COVID-19 DISEASE AND VACCINE COVERAGE IN HEALTH PROFESSIONALS: A PROSPECTIVE MONOCENTRIC STUDY

<bold>Background:</bold> During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital workers were on the front line. However, in Greece there is a lack of data regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection and the clinical course of the disease in this professional group. <bold>Objective:</bold> To examine the incidence of COVID-19 disease in health professionals of a tertiary medical center. <bold>Methods:</bold> We recorded the vaccination coverage of employees of the "ATTIKON" University Hospital, who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 between the years 2020-2022. A prospective data collection and analysis was conducted for cumulative incidence and a survival analysis model was used to calculate the relative risk among workers who were infected according to their vaccination coverage. A subgroup of 67 employees who referred to the occupational medicine department for persistent symptoms was intensively followed-up. <bold>Results:</bold> 1406 out of 1878 individuals (1015 women-72.2%) were diagnosed with COVID-19, 225 (16%) of whom were re-infected (total:1651 infections). A reinfection rate of 10.7% was observed for those who had received 3 doses of vaccination compared to 35.3% for those who were inadequately vaccinated or not vaccinated. During the understudy period the incidence of COVID-19 infections presented a similar pattern with the one in the general population. Employees adequately vaccinated had a 10% lower relative risk being first time infected compared to those non adequately vaccinated (Hazard Ratio:0.899; p=0.044). In the followed-up subgroup long COVID-19 syndrome was detected in about 13,4%. <bold>Conclusions:</bold> Although the majority of the hospital staff was infected with SARS-CoV-2, vaccination has a protective effect.